The old girl hit its 50th anniversary this month, but there are no wrinkles on the Colgate Women’s Games, a free track and field event open to young girls and women.
“It’s very important to ensure that opportunities exist for young ladies who want to pursue athletics,” explains Cheryl Toussaint, meet director since 2015 of the Games, “and by way of athletics, receive college scholarships to support their education.”
Toussaint knows from experience. She started competing in the Games as a naïve 13-year-old from Bed Stuy and climbed the ladder to Olympic medal winner and earned a math degree from NYU. The young ladies who win these athletic scholarships can fuel their futures.
“It could be used for tuition, for books, for anything that would support education,” notes the Erasmus Hall (Brooklyn) High School grad, adding, “It could be used as long as those institutions are accredited.”
Registration for the Colgate Women’s Games starts November 29 at the Nike Track & Field Center at The Armory in Upper Manhattan and December 13 at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. December 28 and January 4 are the Preliminary meets, January 18 are the Semi-Finals, and the Finals are February 7, all at The Armory.
Toussaint’s rise from young runner to silver medal-winning Olympian in the 4×400 is a story unto itself. She was in the Olympic Village at the 1972 Munich Games when terrorists attacked. She found out in the morning that 11 Israeli athletes had been murdered, and 17 died overall.
Toussaint would go on to capture the silver with her teammates in the 4×400, overcoming a slight problem. A runner bumped into her, causing her right spike shoe to come off. She thought she looked silly running with one shoe, but she was “running for dear life.”
The Colgate Games are not a one-and-done competition. If you don’t do well in the first prelim, there is a second. “They get a chance to hone their skills, to develop their skills,” said Toussaint, “especially if they are at a level where they’ve been competing a while and they just need competition.”
Supported by her husband of 47 years, Lamont Toussaint (he changed his last name to hers), and her son Ahmad, she likes to read and do puzzles to relax, but the Colgate Games are her passion. Toussaint figures roughly 29 women who had competed in the Colgate Games have made it to the Olympics, including Ajee’ Wilson of Neptune, NJ.
The former World Indoor champ at 800 meters competed in both the 2016 and 2021 Olympics. She ran her first Colgate event as a nine-year-old. “The Colgate Games mark my start in this sport,” says Wilson, 31 and a Temple University grad. “It was the first experience I had in learning how to be an athlete, to be a professional.
“It fueled my passion for the sport.” This event couldn’t have happened without the commitment of Fred Thompson, the late meet director and creator of the Games. “Fred’s imprint is all over the Games,” recounted Toussaint. Thompson, head coach of the Atoms Track Club, passed in 2019.
And where would the Games be without Colgate? “Colgate-Palmolive is a very socially conscious company, and they do want to give back in the communities that they serve,” stresses Toussaint. With events like the 55-meter dash and 55-meter hurdles, 200, 400, 800, 1,500-meter races, and the high jump and shot put, the Games are open to elementary kids and experienced athletes, and experience is not a prerequisite.
And Ajee’ Wilson’s advice to females on the fence about participating in the Games? “Just come out and compete,” said Wilson.
For more information on the Colgate Women’s Games, go to: www.ColgateWomensGames.com.
I ran one year 70-71
Atoms track